In the rapidly changing world of molecular profiling for genetic diseases, cancer researchers are increasingly optimistic about the reality of a simple blood test to monitor and treat solid tumor cancers.

X-linked intellectual disability is a disorder that predominantly affects men and can have highly variable clinical manifestations. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin ...

Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson tapped into primal fears when he penned "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," a 19th century novel about a sinister physician, raising the question, "Can evil and good exist in ...

In a breakthrough in the understanding of how cancer spreads, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have identified a substance secreted by lung cancer cells that enables them to metastasize, beginning ...

Finding genes for retinal degenerations has immediate benefits for people living with blindness and vision loss, their families, and their physicians. Establishing a genetic cause confirms the clinical diagnosis ...

Targeted therapies are a growing and groundbreaking field in cancer care in which drugs or other substances are designed to interfere with genes or molecules that control the growth and survival of cancer cells. Now, scientists ...

Humans don't like being alone, and their genes are no different. Together we are stronger, and the two versions of a gene – one from each parent – need each other. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute ...

A study has discovered the molecular mechanism that triggers homocystinuria, which is a rare disease that causes vascular and ocular disorders, skeletal deformities and mental retardation. It affects 1 in ...

(Medical Xpress)—Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) appear to have a lot in common. They share risk factors such as obesity and they often occur together. If they also share the same ...

Approximately one-fourth of the 3,386 patients whose DNA was submitted for clinical whole exome testing received a diagnosis related to a known genetic disease, often ending a long search for answers for them and their parents, ...

In a sample of patients with undiagnosed, suspected genetic conditions, a certain type of exome sequencing method was associated with a higher molecular diagnostic yield than traditional molecular diagnostic methods, according ...

Among a group of 2,000 patients referred for evaluation of suspected genetic conditions, whole-exome sequencing provided a potential molecular diagnosis for 25 percent, including detection of a number of rare genetic events ...

Molecular genetics

Molecular genetics is the field of biology that studies the structure and function of genes at a molecular level. The field studies how the genes are transferred from generation to generation. Molecular genetics employs the methods of genetics and molecular biology. It is so-called to differentiate it from other sub fields of genetics such as ecological genetics and population genetics. An important area within molecular genetics is the use of molecular information to determine the patterns of descent, and therefore the correct scientific classification of organisms: this is called molecular systematics.

Along with determining the pattern of descendants, molecular genetics helps in understanding genetic mutations that can cause certain types of diseases. Through utilizing the methods of genetics and molecular biology, molecular genetics discovers the reasons why traits are carried on and how and why some may mutate.